Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-12
WORDS OF WARNING.
Do Not Puncture the Balloon and Hurl
1t Into Destfaction-Perhaps Some
Are Not Quite Ready.
&RErf6us Letter From Curious Man on a
Curious Subject-A New School of
Scientific Research.
WICHITA, KAN, May 8, 1887.

natural gas in your city. l would ask
them to give attention to what am going
to write and, if after giving the question
due consideration, and testing the mates
! on scientific principles, they still desirefo
make the EXPERIMENT. shall have nothing
more to say; my duty as scientist, a
citizen and phiIsntrophist will be dis
charged and the responsibility must rest
with them.
With due Difference to my learned, re-
| liglOus friends / will say that the earth
which we inhabit is a globe of matter
which ages and cons ago was broken of,
hurled from the sun, into space. How it
attained its glObular form is easily eX-
planned. In molten state it was plastic,
and being driven with incredible velocity
through the cirCumambient ether, it was
crushed into the smallest possible size,
which is round. This principle can be
illustrated by anyone who desires to spill
a drop of melted lead into water. 1t
will form at the bottom in globes or
balls. Bear in mind that ether is not the
air we breath. 1t is not, as many people
| believe, pure vacuum of ethereal blue !;
1t is the only positive, irresistible solid
known to science and IS composed of
|
| lions of which could be placed on the
point of a cambria needle. 1t is
! thrown of in waves from the center
of all power, the sun, and pervades
all matter, all space. It Will crush any
thing that impedes it's vibrations. 1 say
this much in explanation of the surround
ings of the earth, and while may be con-
! tradiCted, am prepared 20 adduCe proof.
The mass of heat which we call earth hav-
Ing been thrown out from the sun, pro-
| ceeded upon its painless course until 1t
reached the region of the gases. Here
| the heat, which is simply balls of electri-
city crushed into four equal atoms, was
again united by the action of those gases
and became solid, forming what
we call the surface of the earth.
| This solid or crust once formed, was no
| longer heat, and was subject TO the ordi-
nary rules Of attraction and gravitated
| towards the sun. Had it net been for the
| gas generated by internal heat, and i'm
| prisOned in the earth's crust, our planet
would have returned to its starting place,
or at least, near enough to be again
| melted and sent on it's errand. The in
ternal gas, however, had the same effect
upon the earth as ordinary gas has upon
balloon. The thicker the crust of the
earth became the greater was the force of
the suns attraction, and this attrac-
| ton was CounteraCted by the
| better storing qualities of the
the esrth's shell, aud the greater amount
of gas it contained to float, if 1 may use
| the expression, the earth. Thus you see
| that at given point 100000 miles from
| the sun, there was an equipoise. The force
| of the SUMS attraction equalled, but
| could not overcome the buOyanCy Of the
| gas stored IN the earth, which resulted in
| the earth remaining stationary, and so it
remains. The formation of gas IN the
| bowels of the earth is subject to the laws
which govern the formation of
gas in any gas factory. The sup
| ply is sometimes greater, sometimes less.
| Thiss difference is regulated by safety
| valves well known to scientists, viz: The
volcanoes. If too much gas is generated
1t escapes through these innumerable
Craters until an equilibrium is reached.
| Nature has arranged this and benefcent
| providence watches over it, and hence,
| the boring of gas wells and the liberation
of gases, excepting through the natural
channels, is an outrage upon nature, and,
like all other Outrages upon nature, is
sure not to 60 unpublished. It Is the
same as if man should saCreligiOusly at
tempt to supply his body with more arte-
ries, his heart with more valves, his eyes
with more pupils. The punishment
is not so swift, to be sure,
but it is equally as certain.
1t is violation of laws not made or con-
ceived by human hands or minds, and,
while the magnitude of the outraged
member of the order of creation defers
the climax, it cannot change the result.
In language as plain as can make it, for
want both the lettered and unlettered
to understand me. 1 will warn them that
if the surface Of the earth is punctured
so as to allow the escape of the internal
gas, through artificial apertures, the re-
suit will be that our planet will
lose its suspended equipoise in
the heavens and will be snatched
into the sun and consumed. These
warnings are not given for the purpose of
creating an excitement but for the lauda-
BILE purpose of Warding off terrible day
of consuming fatality. We have been
warned, time and time again, by ire
sponsible agencies, I will frankly admit,
of the near approach of the day when the
heavens should be rolled up like scroll.
Shall we discredit these admonitiOns be-
cause the authors of them are religious
enthusiasts? If we do, we make grave,
fatal mistake. The brute Of the sly and
pasture can tell of the approaching storm
and. will seek shelter; so the eye of faith
may see, though it cannot tell why, the
Nproach of disaster. Science which
.9ooks beyond and above all, through
cloud and mist, through space and time
to the confines of iHf1nity can see, by the
beacon light of reason, events far distant
that portend good or i'll; and, like the
pilot who sees the foam-lashed reefs in
his vessels path, we should steer bravely
around all calamity, even at the risk of
having to trample upon some superannu-
ated errors.
1t may be urged that the puny
hand of man can do nothing to
affect the stability of this massive
globe. It should be remembered that it
is not the hand of man alone. The mind
of man has secured q complete mastery
over matter, and By the aid of machinery
can accomplish wonders. In the state of
Ohio alone there are wells giving out
unlimited quantities of gas. Bowling
Green and Findlay wells give out 2, 000,-